Memory (sequel to robots)

Chapter 8

(I apologize for not updating in forever, but I have reason. I've been working on another book and I've been putting all my effort into it as I had gotten writers block with this one. I've been trying to improve my vocabulary as well seeing as this one has the writing abilities of a two year old. I'm sure the new one will be published sometime in the new year, and I hope some of you will take the time to read it later on. Once again I'd like to thank all of you for reading this and voting on it, I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. Wishing you all the best, Sydney )

Mark only counted the time by how much of the concrete wall he had dug away. The big chunks he managed to pull out, he used to jam the door so he could work without the fear of Sky walking in. No such event happened though. He had slept a good two nights already. The hole was just wide enough now he could squeeze his shoulders through. Now he had to focus on making it deeper, and who the hell knew how deep it was.
He wondered why the crunching sound didn't set off any alarms as he dug his tunnel. He wondered why there was no security camera in the room he was in. He wondered why Sky, such an awesome kid, would go after them like this. Even if her mother was gone. While he was digging, he heard the door in his room move. He gasped, pulling himself out of the hole. He put himself in front of it just before the door burst open. It was Sean. He said nothing. For a moment, Mark almost thought Sean was okay. Sean looked confused, before his face shifted into a harsh, still demeanour. He stomped up to Mark, ripping him to his feet.
"Sean what are you doing?" Mark asked. He watched in horror as Sean's hand came straight at his face. Sean dropped Mark. Sean kicked at Mark, hitting him in the stomach. "Stop it!" Mark yelled, trying to stop him. Sean kept hitting. Mark knew it wasn't Sean in control. Even the broken Sean. He was being forced to do this. Sean pulled Mark up by the shirt, punching him in the face. He had Mark's throat under his fingers. Mark struggled to get his arms to Sean. He managed to push Sean's face back, making him lose sight of what he was hitting at. Mark took Sean's arm, twisting it behind him. "Sean you got to stop!" Mark shouted, not wanting to hurt him. Sean ripped at Mark's hand, managing to reverse the effect and flinging Mark across the room. Mark got up, ready to take the next hit. Sure enough, even with the little space, Sean charged him. Mark used it as fire power to shove him into the wall behind him.
"Sean please! I don't want to kill you!" Mark pled. Sean was on the ground, shaking his head. The cord. If he were to just get close enough to yank it out... Sean seemed down for the count and while it happened, Mark dove at him, ripping the cord, collapsing Sean on the ground. "I'm sorry Sean" Mark turned. Now he had very limited time to get the hell out of the room. If it were her in control, it would only be a matter of time.
Mark looked back at Sean and twisted his head, so he looked at the opposite wall. Because in the back of his mind, he knew whoever was in there was still able to see. Nearly diving, Mark got into his hole, hitting harder than he even was doing before. From behind he could hear yelling and someone hitting the door. The concrete still seemed to be holding it shut. Hitting the concrete one last time, and with a puff of dust, a strand of light filled the tunnel. He ripped at the mess of concrete, opening the hole. He only had a small sliver of opportunity to escape. He didn't have to think twice to crawl out of his hole towards Sean. The door was already opening. Mark's head was buzzing. He felt like he was on an acid trip. Everything was spinning and going in slow motion as he grabbed hold of Sean's hand. He pulled Sean through the hole with him as he backed up.
He heard the door smashing open soon as he managed to get Sean through the hole. Not even bothering with plugging the cord back into Sean, Mark ripped down the empty hallway, dragging Sean behind him. He looked for the nearest door to get through. Alarms began going off. They were blinking red, making it harder for Mark to focus. He shook the handles of the doors he passed, finally finding a small room open. He pulled Sean in just in time before he heard footsteps out side of the door.
"I know you're in here. It's just a matter of who will outsmart who" Sky's voice rung. It was barely audible over the constant sounds of the alarm. Mark looked around the tiny room for anything that may give him the advantage, but found the tiny room was a linen closet. Cleaning supplies and towels. It was a bad situation made worse. How could he utilize towels? He had to think fast. The footsteps were outside his door again; hard and heavy. So it was one of her robots. Mark took a towel and a deep breath. He burst through the door, nearly bumping into a grisly looking robot. He seemed to be double the size of Mark. Both height and muscle mass. Not that it mattered, but it still scared the shit out of him.
The robot took a swing at Mark, who miraculously, ducked in time. He was a slow one. Mark danced around him as the robot took his swings. As he dodged another, he miscalculated his footsteps, walking straight into the robots fist. He nearly flew across the room, hitting his back against the wall. It shook him up inside. It made him dizzy.
"Not such a wise guy now" the robot laughed. The dent in the wall that was made held Mark up, who was trying to figure out which of the five robots he saw in his vision was the right one. He took his guess, swinging his feet upward and thrusting them right at the robot, sending him flying backward. Mark swayed as he stumbled toward the knocked down robot.
"You're going to pay for this you asshole" Mark reached down, ripping the cord right off the robot, throwing it across the room. He searched the robot, finding a gun and a knife. Mark pocketed both, just incase. He looked both ways down the hallway.  For the moment, the hallway was clear.
Mark returned to Sean.
"Okay. You better be okay" he kneeled down, putting the cord back into Sean. Straight away, Sean's eyes lit up. They were still red however.
"Who are you?" He asked, looking at Mark.
"It doesn't matter. But for now, you need to follow me okay?" Mark pulled him to his feet.
"Oh okay. Are you my caretaker? I can't remember" Sean poked Mark in the face. Mark frowned, pulling Sean's hand off of him.
"No. Just follow me" he turned, searching the hallway.
"Oh I know! You're my babysitter right?" Sean laughed.
"No. Shut up and follow me" Mark growled.
"Okay wise guy" Sean whispered. Mark crouched down, making sure that every hall they went down was clear. All were for some odd reason. It settled in Mark like a killer frost. Freezing and stopping everything inside him. When the two reached one corner, Mark peered around to see the smaller robot circling the door. Mark pulled back.
"Wait are we playing hide and seek? That guy is a bad hider!" Sean walked in front of Mark. Mark desperately tried to grab his shirt but Sean dodged his fingers. "Excuse me! But might I say you're a horrible hider! Do you mind finding a better spot? I'll count to ten again" Sean turned away from the guy and hid his face. "One.... Two..."
"Shut up!" Mark whisper-screamed at Sean.
"Well now I can't remember what comes after two. Well I'll just start over. Oh excuse me, do you know what I'm doing?" Sean asked Mark loudly.
"Just stop talking!" Mark was frustrated beyond imagination. The robot had already began walking toward Mark. He rolled his eyes before sticking his foot out and tripping the robot. He fell, but before anything could come out of the situation, Mark took his cord off.
"That wasn't very nice! That man could've been really awesome" Sean frowned.
"No. And for the love of God please just follow me" Mark whined, going toward the door. Sean shrugged, following behind him. There was no hope in trying to go back and getting Sean's memory chip at this point. But he could. Lock Sean up, and go solo. Mark stopped in his tracks.
"Um. Okay. We're going to do something okay? You're going to go into that door there, and stay there until I get back." Mark looked around the room, seeing the door. It felt like he was communicating to a three year old.
"Well that doesn't sound very fun" Sean crossed his arms.
"It's hide and seek okay? Just a different version" Mark began pushing Sean to the door.
"If you say so" Mark opened the door, pushing Sean in. He took what he could find, jamming the door shut so Sean couldn't open even if he wanted it to. "Wait am I counting or are you?" Sean asked.
"I am. So just shut up and stay still please" Mark wanted to bang his head against the wall. Seeing Sean like that hurt, but at the same time, it was annoying to be repeating himself over and over.
When Mark turned to look down the two hallways he had to choose between, he chose the one he came from. There were enough important looking rooms down there. He took off running, jumping at every sound. For all he knew, Sky was waiting there to kill him. Mark changed his mindset. He needed to put everything aside at the moment. That memory chip was somewhere, and he needed to get it.
Approaching the first door, he checked it if it was locked. Not to his surprise, it was. He backed away from it, kicking it open. Splinters of wood flew from it. What he found was nothing. Just a very barren room which he had no idea why it had to be locked. He shook his head, looking down the hallway again before going to the next door. Just as before, locked. Mark grumbled before kicking it down. In the room were security cameras pointed in only a few spots in the hallway and in a few rooms. He walked up to them, looking at each one. Hallway, hallway, door, entrance, aha! Smack in the middle of one of the screens was a chip laying behind glass. He checked where the camera was located before running off again.
After taking a few wrong turns, he spotted the door, but not before spotting Sky at the opposite side of the hallway. She was out of breath and looking at the same door. Mark looked at the door then back at her as he made the split second decision to run. Sky took off after him, skidding to the front of the door seconds after Mark had made it there.
"You get away from that!" She yelled. Mark had already made contact with the glass surrounding Sean's memory chip. He grasped it in his hand like it was his life. It was. It was everything he every really loved contained in one little chip.
Feeling the feeble attempts of Sky trying to grab the chip from Mark almost made him laugh. She punched at him, but it barely felt like a butterfly landing on him.
"Stop" he lifted the chip high in the air and as far away from her as he could manage.
"Give me back the godamn chip!" She screeched.
"No. And what the hell happened to all your power and shit?" He couldn't help but laugh.
"I still have it. But I need that chip"
"Pathetic" Mark pushed her back hard. She stumbled, then fell backward. Mark knew she still had the power to electrocute them both. He knew she would, but it was a matter of when. Having that slight fear pushed Mark to walk just a bit faster. He shoved Sean's chip in his front pocket, hoping it would remain safe there.
When he got back to the front entrance, he could hear Sean mumbling to himself in the room. Mark rushed up to it, pulling the stuff he had shoved in front of the door away. Sean raised an eyebrow at him.
"Who-"
"Don't ask, just follow me" Mark tugged Sean out of the closet.
"Alright but I shouldn't talk to strangers" Sean shrugged.
"I'm not a stranger, just come" he was on the lookout for Sky. He remembered the gun he had, pulling it out and loading it. The front door was oddly un locked. She was leading them into a trap wasn't she? Mark swallowed, walking forward with Sean behind him.
The sun outside was bright and blinding. Mark squinted, looking around for any trap. There was nothing visible. He looked back to Sean distracted by a butterfly. He was chasing it. Mark chuckled at the sight, walking forward, stepping carefully, making sure there were no traps. He was out ten twenty feet and there was nothing. He smiled, turning so he could get Sean to follow him. Just inside the door, he saw Sky, with something in her hand.
"SEAN! Come here!" Mark yelled. Sean looked over at Mark and pointed to himself. "Yes you! Come here!" Mark was panicking. He saw Sky smirk as Sean began walking toward him. The anticipation was killing him.
Within a second, he felt like he just died. He watched in horror as Sean froze in his tracks with his back arched. He saw bolts of electricity flying off of Sean's fingers into the ground. His mouth was ajar as his body helplessly twisted with pain. He barely screamed, which made the whole thing worse.
"NO!" Mark screamed. Sean was bent in a way he never thought possible. The electricity was flying everywhere off of him in a way he couldn't describe. He watched as Sky laughed at the sight. She clicked something, seeming to turn it off. Mark took his chance then. He lifted the gun and pointed it straight for Sky as Sean collapsed to the ground. Without hesitation he pulled the trigger, watching as a bullet hole was created in her forehead. She gasped, a look of shock on her face before she fell backward. Mark dropped the gun, feeling he couldn't reach Sean in time.
"SEAN!" He screamed before scooting down beside Sean. The damage he took to just the outside of his body sent waves of shock through Mark. Sean's eyes were burnt out and smashed. The ends of his hair were scorched off. His mouth was still wide open. His fingertips had no more skin on them, exposing the metal structure he was made of. The cord on the back of his neck was gone completely. Skin on his face was turned black now along with other patches on his body. Mark could only imagine what kind of damage would be done to his interior.
Mark turned Sean over, desperate to see the damage inside Sean. Even seeing the scorched skin on the outside was almost unbearable. He sobbed as he frantically clawed at the compartment on Sean's back. Mark managed to pop it open, only to be welcome by a cloud of thick black smoke. He coughed as he blew it away. Seeing inside was far worse. Anything and everything he could see was fried beyond repair.
"No. No no no no" Mark slammed the compartment shut and turned Sean over again. He picked up his head and placed it in his lap. Mark leaned his head on Sean's chest and cried.
While he sobbed, he barely heard the sound of a helicopter landing off in the distance. Mark ignored it, only paying attention to how hurt he was and how the last time he saw Sean walking around was while he was broken. And chasing a butterfly.